Team

Chairman, Co-Founder & Innovation Director

Markus Mettler was born in 1966 and grew up in Appenzellerland Switzerland. From the age of nine he started importing Space Food from the USA. After completing high school at the Trogen cantonal school and a traineeship in New York, Mettler started a degree in commerce in Geneva. He successfully quit his studies after two years and at the age of 22 co-founded the company Dactis, the forerunner of BrainStore. Mettler is Chairman of the supervisory board and IdeaDirector for Client projects.

Co-Founder & Innovation Director

The short but not small Journalist has been infected with the idea virus since 1989. She grew up in Mexico City and in the Swiss Hills of Appenzell. She prefers baroque music on her iPod, agrees with Churchill: "No Sports" and is a professional equilibrist between her profession and her family. Assures to mix the world's best dry martini (shaken, not stirred). Nadja Schnetzler manages client projects in BrainStore and coaches companies in innovation management. She is the author of the book "The IdeaMachine" (Wiley, 2005).

BackOffice

All of the coffee machines drool over the devotional care of the site manager. Robbi considers complacency to be a vice. He is now in his last life and therefore changes his favourite dish constantly. Robbi is faithful to music - his passion - since the foundation of the BT-studios.

Head Operations

Maura will be an astrophysicist in her next life for sure, but in this one she has completed a master of business administration. What is more, she is a celebrated sushi and curry chef and world champion in disentangling knots.

WelcomeManager/ Marketing & Communications

Eva was a figure skater and visited 32 countries before landing in Switzerland. Before becoming the welcome hostess of the IdeaFactory in Biel Eva was the store manager of a fashion label. She loves to skate through the streets of Biel with her daughter Dixie and says that she is her most successful project.

Content Manager

Goes to every effort to find practical solutions for everyday-life. Although the industrial-designer loves to plan things in advance even she has already been surprised by a large-scale production of handbags from her own accessories label "nüchtern" in her living-room. After living in Essen, Bochum, Mannheim and London Julia is now working on ideas in Biel.

Software Developer

Before the computer scientist started his programming career at BrainStore Alain brought teletext to the internet, just like that. He spends his free time mostly in his own studio when he doesn't happen to be in a music or record store making good use of his credit card. When his bank account is not on empty he also likes to travel around the world or to produce another new cd with his band.

Head Community Management

Richard drinks a lot of coffee – the stronger the better. That’s one of the reasons he feels at home at the idea factory. He’s been involved with BrainStore for more than 6 years now and started his current job as a community manager in 2007. His task is to make sure the right people meet at the right time in order to come up with good ideas.
It takes him 5 minutes to get to the train station using his foldable Brompton bike, he speaks 5 languages fluently, has travelled to all of the 5 continents and lives in Zurich's eclectic 5th district.

WebDeveloper PHP

At the age of 12 Andreas found a Schneider C64 under the Christmas tree. Since then he could not turn away from those boxes ever again. Today he develops the software for BrainStore. If for once Andreas is not programming he can most certainly be found somewhere near a coffemachine.

Community Manager

The idea of combining children and job landed Ricky at BrainStore. In her pre-BrainStore life, she whizzed around as a reporter chasing political and historical criminals in the “Wild East” of Germany. She loves the challenge of getting to the bottom of something, and wants to mix together the best CreativeTeams in the whole world. Tasteful and effective! In her free-time she likes to chop postcards up into small pieces in order to turn them later into new pictures.

Head Human Resources

From her experience that things in life usually happen differently than originally planned, she has developed a great flexibility. This skill has helped her with her studies in English Linguistics, her training as a teacher as well as in her former job as a theatre producer.

Content Manager

Milena came to Biel from Basel, where she finished her studies in psychology. She likes absurdities, riding the train, train stations all over the world, photographs and buttons. At BrainStore she likes most that creativity and systematic procedures complement each other.

Software Engineer

Christian Gluch was infected with the computer virus at the tender age of 6. He loves conceiving complex multi-user applications, and is pleased to be able to use this ability at BrainStore. Following a successful stay of nearly 2 years in the German capital, he now wants to live in Biel with his wife and 2 sons.

Head Events & Services

Originally a native of Argovia, he is a skilled cook and a man of pleasure. He has lost his heart to the BrainStore coffee machines for quite some time already. As a passive sportsman, he is a great supporter of the FC Basel, and besides, he likes to ride his bike - preferably downhill. Actually, he is not very enthusiastic about taking the other direction. When travelling, he likes to ride trains rather than buses.

Innovation Director USA

Pascal has jumped from airplanes 276 times. He’s never landed in the same place twice – except BrainStore, first as a teenage 'lateral thinker' in 1991. After a few years off in which he completed a degree in art history, discovered his love of Korean food, worked as a journalist in Hollywood, and tried fruitlessly to whip up an acceptable version of Chile's signature cocktail, Pascal now assists BrainStore's North American clients with the same passion he has for everything dear to him.

Content Manager

Marcel likes anything that is new. His curiosity led him from Weimar to Dessau, where he studied integrated design, and then from there on, following his gut, to Berlin. There, he researched the securing and the maintenance of ideas and worked as a copywriter for an advertising agency. The smell of fresh ideas led him directly to BrainStore. He likes to collect life experiences and stores them in big boxes in the attic.

Client Relations Manager

Born in the deepest „Ruhr Area“, she spent her childhood in the land of tulips and clogs. With a bachelor in hotel management and tourism she started off in Switzerland 3 years ago. She likes books by Elizabeth George, music by Connie Francis and licorice. Not on her hotlist are sports, cooking and creepy crawlies. With a good sense of humor and a flair for organization, BrainStore and Christina will gain new heights.

Head Research and Development

Helena Schneeberg seems to have a lot to do with snow and mountains. As a matter of fact though, she prefers the ocean. Along with her sailing trips on the South Seas or the Antarctica, she got her master in philosophy, literature and German as a foreign language. She has worked as a scientist, as a waitress, as a sailing teacher, as a sailor, as a journalist and as a helpmate on a farm. Her last job was as a German teacher in Chile. She switched from the Goethe Institute to BrainStore because she’s not a teacher, but an adventurer.

Chief Financial Officer

Hard figures or soft skills? To be able to stay on top of the finances of a company you certainly need both. But Serge certainly leaves the figures behind while Salsa-dancing as the steps come from his heart. In order to clear his head thoroughly there’s nothing better for him than going fishing with his son.

Finances

She certainly has many assets, but she strictly keeps her liabilites on the balance sheet. The fun she has with accounting and how she applies herself to it with her buoyant temperament is bewildering to most people. This temperament cannot be denied in her private life either where she relishes enjoying all facetts of La Dolce Vita with her best friends.

Software Engineer

Stefan Suter is a professional structural engineer and multimedia producer. But instead of building structures he prefers building flash applications for BrainStore now. Apart from that he is the drummer of a band and now uses the train more often than before.

Sales Manager

Irene comes from the canton of Aargau, moved to Zurich and landed at the ideafactory in Biel in 2007. As a child care professional she first conducted a two-and-a-half year expedition of the small and large wonders of the world with the MiniBrains. With fantasy, creativity and optimism she mastered the daily challenges of life. In her free time she devours books and is out and about in every weather – lately being outdorrs includes a DiscGolf Frisbee. Apart from her studies in socialwork at the university of applied science, she is now working for BrainStores sales and marketing team, trying to ignite the spark of BrainStore all over the world.

Project Manager

Esther first participated in BrainStore project as teenager and, since then, has always wanted to work here when she grew up. She has not grown up too much, but in the meantime she’s had some experience in project management and has finally been able to follow the call of creativity and move to Biel. She hopes not to be overfed at the office and to rediscover her love of sports. That’s a love she knows is bound to be hiding somewhere.

IT Helpdesk

As he decided not to take the path of Indiana Jones nor to become a history professor, Marco stayed within the area of IT. When Marco is not setting up computers for other brains or is sitting in a course to enrich his IT-Knowledge, he enjoys his time with his girl-friend, indulges in some sports or celebrates the opening of a bottle of Single Malt.

Community Manager

Diana loves networking – no matter whether a friend needs a new car or a larger flat, she will always find somebody who can help out. That’s why she took on the role as Community Manager at BrainStore where she makes sure that the right people find together to spark creativity. She lives in Zurich’s Langstrasse with her dog Odin. To compensate for city life, she is found at her home of choice, the wonderful Engadin, as often as she can manage